A special session of the German Bundestag to discuss the black-red debt package has stalled due to the absence of a quorum, with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) submitting abstention motions as expected. This now blocks the debate and subsequent voting on the package, after the Federal Constitutional Court had given the green light on Monday.
The AfD had submitted its motion, among other reasons, citing that the Union was committing a “gigantic electoral fraud”. The democracy would be led to absurdity, said the party’s parliamentary business manager, Bernd Baumann. The FDP stated that the vote would harm the old majorities of democracy. “This has nothing to do with serious parliamentary business” said the FDP’s parliamentary business manager, Johannes Vogel.
The votes, the outcome of which is expected to be known by 3 pm, concern constitutional changes to relax the debt brake for defense expenditures and a special infrastructure fund of 500 billion euros. According to reports, the necessary two-thirds majority after the deal between the Union and the Social Democratic Party, with the Greens, does not appear to be in jeopardy.